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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/landspreading-how-to-manage-soil-health/landspreading-how-to-manage-soil-health

For your landspreading activities you will need to:

To provide agricultural benefit or ecological improvement you may need to manage:

Identify and describe the soil type in your benefit statement. You can determine the physical properties of the soil by its:

You cannot significantly alter the physical properties of the soil. However, you can improve its structure and fertility. For example, by adding organic matter.

Use the soil description to help you to understand how landspreading waste can influence the:

This will enable you to do an accurate assessment of nutrient requirement in terms of:

To work out your soil type and description you can use step 1 of the field assessment method in the AHDB Nutrient Management Guide (RB209), Section 3 grass and forage crops.

For example, provide in your benefit statement:

You can find further information on soil assessment in:

We normally expect you to use:

If you use a different approach you must explain in your benefit statement what it is and why you used it.

Get specialist advice to confirm that the sampling method is suitable for your requirements, in particular for:

If you use guidance from different sources and it is inconsistent, adopt the most conservative approach.

The samples must reflect variations across the receiving land of:

Your samples must represent the nutrients available in the plough layer. Consider what cultivation system has been used on land you will sample for phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and pH. This is because it can affect the distribution of nutrients within the topsoil. Consider the effect of minimum tillage, known as ‘min till’ with or without ‘occasional plough’ (after several years).

The standard depths of sampling for regular plough systems are:

Use these examples to develop your approach. If you use these sampling depths, you must justify why you used them in your benefit statement. They must reflect the plough system used and the nutrient profile.

The nutrients are mixed in a uniform soil layer in the plough layer 150mm to 300mm deep. If you take a core up to 150mm deep, the nutrient concentrations will represent the entire layer.

Applied nutrients tend to accumulate in the top 50mm layer forming strata (seams or layers) through the top 300mm of the soil. If you take a core up to 150mm deep it will result in an overestimate of nutrient concentrations to normal plough depth. Therefore underestimating the availability of nutrients to the following crop. Take samples to about 230mm for greater accuracy.

The top 50mm of the soil layer is occasionally turned around to a plough depth of 150mm to 300mm. If you take a sample core depth to 150mm, it could result in an underestimation of the available nutrients to the crop. This is because the sample will not represent the top layer.

Most soil systems, pH and nutrient levels, other than inorganic nitrogen, change slowly. So, it is not necessary to resample and analyse every year. Use the recommended sampling frequency in RB209 or where applicable the Sewage sludge in agriculture: code of practice.

If a sensitive crop is grown as part of the rotation, for which benefit is being claimed, take soil samples well in advance of planting this crop to allow for the soil to adjust.

The Rules for farmers and land managers to prevent water pollution (the farming rules for water) requires that soil test results are no more than 5 years old at the time the waste is applied.

You may need to sample and analyse acidic soils more often.

For the years between sampling, to justify the nutrient need you can use the field assessment method described in RB209. This method accounts for:

You must not use the field assessment method in place of a regular soil sampling programme and analysis. Justify the frequency of sampling in your benefit statement. We may require you to do more.

You must consider any recent landspreading activities. You may have the sample results from a previous deployment. For example, recent spreading of sewage sludge may have increased the levels of PTEs in the soil. In these cases, you must always provide a new sample analysis.

For soil that receives sludge or waste containing heavy metals use the requirements in Section 6 of the Sewage sludge in agriculture: code of practice. Where specific requirements are not provided use RB209 or other standards.

We expect to see a new representative soil sample and analysis where a recent deployment or land treatment activity could have changed the PTE levels in the soil.

If you need to manage the water content of the soil consider the:

You can conserve water in the soil by injecting liquid wastes and using minimum tillage operations. If you use injection you will need to:

An application rate of 250m3/ha is approximately equivalent to 25mm of rain/ha.

See the relevant waste code in Landspreading: benefits and risks of the waste types you can use for information on the type of liquid waste you plan to use.

Waste streams with a high water content are most likely to provide benefit during the months of active plant growth. This is between May and September.

Consider these benefits, the waste:

Consider the spreading technique you use. For example:

Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of the soil. It ranges from about pH 4.0 very acid (when most crops will fail) to about pH 8.0 for soils that are naturally rich in lime or are over-limed. Most plants can tolerate a wide range of pH conditions if a proper balance of other elements is maintained.

You can use a suitable waste stream to correct the pH of the soil to provide benefit.

For optimum soil pH see Table 1.1 Section 1 in RB209.

The soil pH significantly influences nutrient availability and the mobility of PTEs and other contaminants.

It is important to manage soil pH for ecological improvement schemes. The soil pH can affect how plant species and habitats develop on the land for treatment, restoration or maintenance.

You can also control the soil-borne disease clubroot using pH adjustment. For more details see clubroot management in crops on the AHDB website.

The following can decrease pH:

As soil pH decreases, the soil solution concentration of hydrogen ions increases.

At low pH (acidic) the concentrations of aluminium, manganese, iron and zinc in the soil solution can increase. This can affect phosphate uptake and induce a phosphorus deficiency in the plants.

The degree of chemical fixation into plant-unavailable phosphorus forms is lowest at soil pH 7.0 and increases as soil pH decreases. Phosphorus deficiency can also be seen in alkaline soils where reactions with calcium fix phosphorus in unavailable forms.

Landspreading a waste stream that contains lime or has a high neutralising value adjusts the pH of the soil. This affects the chemical, physical and biological properties of the soil.

Consider the chemical effects of changing the pH of the soil, for example:

You must not apply sewage sludge and other waste streams that contain metals to soils below pH 5.0. You must only apply it to soils below pH 5.5 when justified with appropriate technical expertise.

For further information on adjusting soil pH for agricultural crops see:

The use of some manufactured fertilisers, cropping regimes, and natural leaching can all contribute to a decrease in soil pH over time.

The target pH, given in table 1 (in this guide), is always slightly higher than the optimum pH. This allows for longer periods between lime applications.

You can add lime to non-calcareous soils to help to restore the pH balance. Its addition has biological and chemical advantages.

You can use the neutralising value to compare the liming properties of materials and wastes. It is the standard basis for doing this comparison.

The neutralising value is expressed as a percentage of the effect that is obtained if pure calcium oxide is used.

For example, if a sample of ground limestone has neutralising value of 55, then 100kg of this material would have the same neutralising value as 55kg of calcium oxide.

Typical neutralising value properties are:

Waste streams with a liming potential tend to have lower neutralising values which results in the need for typically higher application rates than for quarried limestone or chalk.

The reactivity of a liming material is based on how quickly the soil will benefit. Finer grained materials and dusts tend to react most quickly, typically in 1 to 2 years. Lumpy or poorly ground material is slower to react.

The reactivity in the soil of some waste streams, such as cement kiln dust will be similar to quarried limestone or chalk because of its physical and chemical characteristics.

When judging the benefit the waste gives the receiving soil, do not base it on how quickly the soil will benefit. Instead, base it on how well the waste amends the soil pH. This means considering how suitable the waste material is, the soil type, the pH amendment required and cropping plans.

The lime recommendation as set out in RB209 depends on the pH and the buffering capacity of the soil.

To use a waste stream as a liming material you must:

The field factor is the amount of lime needed to raise the soil type selected by 1 pH unit. This reflects the buffering capacity of the soil.

Knowing the carbon to nitrogen ratio in both the waste and soil is important. For your landspreading activity you need to understand the implications of controlling the:

If your deployment only claims benefit from adding organic matter to the soil, you will need to consider the soil type and the crop and the potential for nitrogen lock up.

Nitrogen lock up is when soil organisms start to break down the waste and need nitrogen to function. If the waste has a high carbon to nitrogen ratio, such as paper sludges and timber residues, the waste will not supply enough available nitrogen to the crop.

Not getting the carbon to nitrogen ratio right can:

How long nitrogen lock up lasts can depend on the:

You are unlikely to be able to claim benefit from surface spreading a bulky organic waste on permanent grass fields. The waste may smother the grass at high application rates.

Therefore, incorporation may be difficult in well-established grass swards. You may be able to claim benefit where the waste is applied to a short-term ley, that is then ploughed during a rotation.

If you plan to spread organic waste on grassland, we recommend you split the application. For example, by using lower application rates for several sessions. This will allow the sward to incorporate the waste between applications.

You can harrow the grassland after you spread to:

You will need to know:

You must not apply more nutrients than are needed by the soil and crop. This would fail waste recovery test 3 as described in Landspreading: produce a benefit statement.

You can use RB209 to work out the nutrients your soil and crop needs.

For further information on how to plan and control nutrient levels see Nitrates and phosphates: plan organic fertiliser and manufactured fertiliser use.

RB209 contains information on recommended soil indices for phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. Recommendations are also provided for sulphur, sodium and a range of micronutrients also known as trace elements. To control other trace elements you must use different guidance and appropriate expert advice.

Soil indices are a simple measure of the nutrient status of the soil (the concentrations of nutrients). They indicate a nutrient concentration range in the soil. For example, phosphate at index 2 is the range in concentration between 16 and 25mg/l.

If you do not want to follow the recommendations in RB209 you must:

Waste composition varies. If your deployment proposes to rectify a deficiency of one essential plant nutrient (at a level as recommended in RB209) other nutrients must not be unnecessarily over applied.

For your deployment, you must demonstrate the benefits and assess the risks of all the nutrients in the waste stream. For example, any non-essential nutrient additions (that is the nutrient status of the soil is already at or above the recommended indices) from the waste stream can only balance crop off-take. Therefore, resulting in no net increase in nutrient levels in the receiving soil.

You can provide agricultural benefit by landspreading waste that contains nitrogen. This includes both plant available mineral forms and stable slow release organic forms.

You must do an assessment if your waste stream supplies the soil with nitrogen.

The nitrogen requirement of a crop depends on the type and growth of the crop. If higher than average yields are expected the requirement may increase. Certain crops such as milling wheat may require extra nitrogen.

The crop nitrogen requirement is equal to the crop type, yield and quality.

The amount of nitrogen made available by landspreading a waste stream must not cause the supply of nitrogen to exceed the specific crop need. If it does you will need to provide justification in your benefit statement. You can use RB209 to assess the crop nitrogen need using the soil nitrogen supply (SNS) index system.

To work out how much additional nitrogen is needed from the waste you must consider how much nitrogen:

Consider these 4 main forms of soil nitrogen:

Nitrogen in the soil is in constant circulation between these different forms.

When you store and later landspread high nitrogen content waste streams this can increase the air concentration of ammonia through volatilisation.

The ammonia can then settle-out on nearby land causing a fertiliser effect. This is known as nitrogen deposition.

Nitrogen deposition and ammonia volatilisation can affect sensitive receptors in the local environment. When preparing your benefit statement, you must be aware of how it can:

For further information see the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for reducing ammonia emissions.

If you have identified a sensitive receptor, such as a Site of special scientific interest (SSSI), you must check the site citation document for sensitive species. You can use the designated sites system to search for a SSSI and download the list of ‘operations requiring Natural England’s consent’ (known as the ORNEC list).

For further information see Sites of special scientific interest: managing your land.

You can get free or charged advice from Natural England about the site.

You must consider these sensitive locations if you are within:

When you do identify sites that may be vulnerable to ammonia emissions you need to:

You can use the UK Air Pollution Information System to check local background levels as part of your benefit statement.

We may not agree some deployments due to the properties of the waste and the degree of sensitivity of a receptor. Instead, you may need to re-submit a deployment form for using that waste stream on a different area of receiving land where the risks are not significant. If you have concerns at the deployment application stage you can contact us for advice.

Your deployment can result in agricultural benefit by landspreading waste streams that provide phosphate, potash and magnesium.

For further advice on how to manage these additions see relevant sections in RB209.

See also Protecting our water, soil and air.

In non-agricultural settings, for example in restoration schemes under SR2010 No 5, the soil will need to have adequate levels of organic matter. This will help give the plants grown on the land a reservoir of nutrients.

For information on how to produce a restoration plan see Landfill operators: environmental permits. This guidance is aimed at the landfill sector but can apply to operators creating restoration schemes under SR2010 No 5. You must be able to meet all the 5 waste recovery tests.

You can use sources of slow release nutrients to benefit established plants. Particularly where future additions are not practical. For example:

To maintain this type of site you could reapply mulch or reuse shredded trimmings from maintenance.

See RB209 and Protecting our water, soil and air for guidance on sulphur inputs relative to soil type, crop and soil index.

Certain waste types, such as gypsum, contain useful quantities of sulphur. This may provide all or some of the crop requirement at the chosen application rate.

From the receiving soil analysis for sulphur, consider:

Biochemical oxygen demand measures the rate of oxygen uptake by microorganisms in a sample of water at a temperature of 20°C, over a period of 5 days and in the dark.

Chemical oxygen demand is commonly used to indirectly measure the amount of organic compounds in water. Most applications of chemical oxygen demand determine the amount of organic pollutants found in surface water, making it a useful measure of water quality. It is expressed in milligrams for each litre, which indicates the mass of oxygen consumed for each litre of solution.

You may need to manage contaminants. These include:

For biological contaminants see the Manage pests and diseases section in this guide.

You can use soil guideline values for landspreading where available.

Most land will already have sources of metals, PTEs or other contaminants. These could be from atmospheric pollution or previous land use. For example:

Where a waste stream contains metals, PTEs or other contaminants, you must know the existing levels in the receiving soil. Find out the levels in your receiving soil analysis and provide details in your benefit statement.

You must allow for the mobility and therefore availability of PTEs and other chemicals in the soil. Mobility is dependent on pH. Refer to the Manage soil pH section in this guide and the Sewage sludge in agriculture: code of practice.

Note, the data does not present the specific conditions or the concentration of metals on a specific area of receiving land. You must do a site-specific receiving soil analysis.

The information under this heading is taken from the former ‘Code of good agricultural practice for the protection of soil’, often referred to as the ‘Soil code’.

Further recommendations for many of these micronutrients is available in section 1 RB209.

You will need to assess the acceptability of PTE or other contaminant addition to the soil as part of your deployment.

You must consider in your benefit statement the impact on crop and animal health by landspreading.

For PTEs you must use the specific requirements as given in the Sewage sludge in agriculture: code of practice. This applies to all waste streams not just sludge.

Zinc addition at the right concentration is beneficial for crop growth because it is an essential trace element.

Negative impacts of too much zinc include:

Chlorosis usually occurs at concentrations well below those which cause any risk to animal health. Zinc affects animals by interacting with other elements, such as copper.

Zinc alone is unlikely to affect animals until they eat more than 300 to 1,000mg/kg of dry food, depending on the:

Zinc concentrations in herbage greater than about 220mg/kg of dry matter are likely to have a significant effect on how grazing livestock can metabolise copper.

Crops can benefit from the correct concentration of copper addition because it is an essential trace element.

Negative impacts of too much copper include:

You must also consider that:

At a soil pH of 6.0 or above:

The main risks of too much copper to animals include:

The effect of a given concentration of copper on some livestock depends on its chemical form and on how it interacts with other elements.

Cattle are unlikely to be affected by copper.

Lead in soils with a pH of over 6.0 is not usually toxic to plants but can be dangerous to livestock eating soil contaminated herbage.

There is a legal limit of 1mg/kg lead in fresh food for sale. It is unlikely this limit will be exceeded. However, it could be when vegetables are grown and sold from a soil which contains lead at more than about 300mg/kg of dry solids. You must make sure that the crop is not contaminated by waste soil so that this limit of 300 mg/kg is not exceeded.

Lead is not available to plants where the soil has a pH of more than 7.0.

The total cadmium concentration limit in soil is 3mg/kg of dry solids. This limit protects the food supply to humans and animals. Plant growth is not affected at this level.

You must not exceed this limit when you apply waste to land.

Cadmium is often found naturally with geological deposits of lead and zinc. Plant roots take it up and move it to the leaves and seeds. This effect is greater at low pH. Take up varies depending on the physical and chemical form of the cadmium and the type of plant.

Excess cadmium in the soil can be a hazard to:

Arsenic can be toxic to animals and crops. It is adsorbed and stored by plant roots. However, it does not move freely to leaves or stems.

Fluoride in soils is normally present as insoluble calcium fluoride. In this form plant roots do not readily take it up.

If soil that is high in fluoride, or grass that is contaminated by waste materials containing fluoride, is eaten over a long period, the teeth and bones of livestock can suffer from fluorosis.

A total concentration of fluoride, from whatever source, of 500mg/kg of dry soil could result in the diet of grazing animals exceeding the safe limit of 30mg/kg of dry matter.

Nickel is toxic to most plants.

To protect crops or animals:

The chromate (VI) ion is toxic to plants and animals.

However, due to the conditions found in organic waste materials or in soil, it will only exist as the relatively inactive chromium (III) ion.

Chromium (III) is unlikely to be toxic to plants except in extremely acidic soils.

Land which has sewage sludge applied to it must contain chromium at less than 400mg/kg of dry soil or 600mg/kg if landspreading to grassland.

Mercury is very toxic to humans and animals. Soil concentrations of mercury should not be greater than 1 mg/kg of dry soil.

Plant roots do not take up mercury effectively.

The safe concentration of selenium is 2mg/kg of dry matter in plants

Livestock are not normally poisoned until they take in selenium at more than 5mg/kg of dry food. To minimise risk, make sure the concentration of selenium in soil is kept below 3mg/kg.

Soils naturally high in selenium are very rare but may be a risk to grazing livestock where they occur.

High molybdenum levels in soil may result in needing to take precautions to limit the amount livestock can take in. High molybdenum in plants with more than 5mg/kg of dry matter reduces the availability of copper to livestock and may cause a copper deficiency.

You must not apply waste to land if it will raise soil concentrations of molybdenum above 4mg/kg of soil. However, if the concentration in the soil is naturally higher than this value and livestock are receiving copper therapy, you can apply sewage sludge which only contains trace levels of molybdenum. Get veterinary advice before you take any action.

Some clay and shale soils naturally contain molybdenum at more than 100mg/kg of soil.

Salt water can deposit sodium and chloride in the soil. Plants growing on sea-flooded land may be damaged by lack of oxygen or by the soil around their roots being disturbed.

High chloride levels restrict plant growth and decrease the ability of their roots to take up water from the soil.

High levels of sodium in the soil will disperse clay particles and cause problems in soil structure, especially in non-calcareous soils.

See Manage salty whey and other high conductivity waste in this guide. This includes information on long term risk to clay soils.

You must test for iodine if the waste you are proposing to use is a potential source.

Iodine is an essential dietary trace element. However, excessive intake can imbalance the synthesis of thyroid hormones and may cause serious health problems. The Animal By-Products Regulations (ABPR) require that blood is treated to prevent risk to human and animal health. The treatment can involve using chemicals such as iodine. If you want to spread for example, treated blood, abattoir or lairage waste, you must provide information on the treatment chemicals.

See Meet other regulatory requirements in Landspreading: how to comply with your permit for using ABPR waste.

You need to be aware of the risk that antimicrobial function of iodine as a bactericide, viricide and fungicide. This could potentially cause adverse effects in soil to which waste streams such as abattoir wastes treated with iodine is spread.

You need to assess the potential for nutrients to leach or run-off into water courses or groundwater which could cause eutrophication or pollution. For example, if the nutrient addition from landspreading waste exceeds the current crop need. This can occur when waste applications are managed over a crop rotation. This fails waste recovery test 3.

We will not normally approve phosphorus additions where the soil is above recommended index levels and adding phosphorus exceeds any rotational crop off-take.

Applications to land of waste high in organic matter may affect the activity of applied pesticides, herbicides and other agrochemicals. This may result in agricultural disbenefit and applies to these waste codes:

Use Landspreading: benefits and risks of the waste types you can use for more details.

Many agrochemicals are attracted to organic matter, particularly when they are used on soils with a high organic matter content greater than 10%.

Microorganisms can breakdown the agrochemicals held by the organic matter. Chemical processes such as hydrolysis and oxidation may also contribute to the degradation (breaking down) process. How quickly the processes take depends on the agrochemical product’s chemical structure.

Consider that this may reduce its effectiveness in the field. For example, with pre-emergent residual herbicides and with other soil applied agrochemicals.

If you are landspreading on sandy soils, consider that applied products containing herbicides or other agrochemicals risk leaching rapidly into the soil. This can cause root and soil damage.

Your waste analysis may identify high concentrations of an element that the Sewage sludge in agriculture: code of practice does not include as a PTE. The addition may have significance on the background levels in the locality, such as underlying geology and soil mass of the cultivation layer.

For example, the addition of iron, aluminium and manganese from the application of water clarification sludge.

You can get information on background soil concentrations from:

Do not use information published about soil properties to replace a regular programme of sampling and analysis.

Be aware that waste may contain pests and diseases. These include pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. The wastes may contain harmful bacteria from food and vegetable processing, including escherichia coli, listeria monocytogenes and salmonella serotypes.

Pests and diseases could infect crops and harm human and animal health.

You must not store or landspread waste that contains pests and diseases unless you can provide information to demonstrate that you will manage the risks.

You must not apply vegetable wastes, washwaters and soil from the following sources:

Find out if the waste:

You must confirm in your benefit statement that the waste has been correctly sanitised. If it has not, you must show that there is no risk of spreading pests and diseases.

You must get any untreated waste tested. We consider that untreated waste is high risk.

These waste types may need testing to check they do not present a hazard:

Make sure that the levels of pathogenic agents and potentially infectious stages of parasites in the waste soil:

Here are some examples of some common soil borne diseases:

There are many other pests and diseases that can seriously damage crops and plants. You can find further information:

There may be other sources of information you can use.

You must notify some pests and diseases. See how to report a pest or disease on the UK Plant Health Information Portal.

You must not spread diseased or foreign plant waste on agricultural land.

The Department for Food and Environmental Affairs (Defra) set controls and restrictions on the import, movement, keeping of certain plants, plant pests and other materials such as soil. They are concerned about the disease risk from imported potatoes.

You must know where the vegetable waste came from if there is potential for it to contain material from another country.

You must get advice from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) if you suspect that applying the waste risks spreading pests and disease from imported waste.

You can search for more detailed advice about specific pests or organisms on the UK Plant Health Risk Register.

You must not use wastes that are infected with tree pests and diseases. If you suspect infection you must assess the waste.

For how to identify, report, prevent and minimise the introduction, spread and impacts of tree pests and diseases in the UK see tree pests and diseases.

For specific tree and woodland problems you can use the Forestry Research pest and disease resources webpages. For example, for phytophthora ramorum and phytophthora kernoviae which are notifiable fungus-like pathogens.

Many other tree pests and diseases are notifiable. To find out see the Forestry Commission and APHA guidance on tree pests and diseases matrix.

If you are proposing to spread waste wood and related materials from outside of the UK you must see information on bio-security measures for Importing and exporting wood and timber products on the Forestry Commission website.

Your landspreading activity must not allow certain invasive and non-native plants to grow in the wild. The full list of plants is given in schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

For how to identify, control and dispose of invasive non-native plants that can harm the environment see stop invasive non-native plants from spreading.

Some of the species listed in schedule 9 are aquatic plants which you can potentially spread to land with controls in place. However, you must see the permit’s introductory note for restrictions on spreading these close to a water course. You must also consider ditches and drains.

For Japanese knotweed see prevent Japanese knotweed from spreading.

There are the 5 harmful (injurious) weeds listed in the Weeds Act. These weeds can affect pasture and can contaminate hay.

See stop ragwort and other harmful weeds from spreading for how to:

See also GB Non-Native Species Secretariat website.

If you propose to use waste soils, see the information on the 02, 17 and 20 waste codes in Landspreading: benefits and risks of the waste types you can use.

Landspreading can introduce animal pathogens. You must find out if the waste soil comes from land that was occupied by livestock with infectious animal diseases.

You must make sure that the levels of pathogenic agents and parasites at a potentially infectious stage in waste soils will not have adverse effects on:

The probability and extent of pathogenic activity in any waste soil depends mainly on the previous use of the land. For example, some animal pathogens in dredging spoil are persistent. Consider if it is appropriate to apply lairage waste during notifiable animal disease outbreaks to prevent disease transmission.

These infectious diseases are covered by the Animal Health Act and include for example, foot and mouth disease, anthrax, Newcastle disease, Aujeskys disease. Some are notifiable.

For further information on animal pathogens and infectious diseases see notifiable diseases in animals. This lists the notifiable diseases and includes what to do if you suspect a notifiable disease and how to prevent them.

This section is mainly for salty whey waste. It is also relevant for other types of of salty and high conductivity waste.

Salty whey wastes can include:

Salty wastes can cause soil and crop problems. Salts added to soils can:

You can cause these problems if you apply salty whey waste to soil:

You can reduce the risk of salt scorching or soil damage by:

Keep to between 2,000 and 4,000uS/cm conductivity when applying waste to crops. Wastes with a high conductivity can cause leaf scorch in green crops. This will harm crop growth and yield. Some crops are more tolerant of salt than others so you must know which crop is, or will be grown, on the land that receives the waste. For example:

See RB209 for more details on the salt sensitivity of different crops.

For your benefit statement, you must be able to:

You must know if the laboratory reports the salt as sodium or as sodium oxide. Sodium recommendations are given as kg/ha of sodium oxide and not as sodium. You must convert sodium to sodium oxide. To do this multiply the sodium amount by 1.348.

For more conversions see RB209 page 46 in Section 4 Arable crops.

RB209 recommends adding sodium to most soils where beet is grown. This excludes fen peat and some silt soils, which generally contain adequate sodium. Sodium is commonly applied as agricultural salt at 375kg/ha (200kg/ha sodium oxide) without any adverse effect on soil structure, even on soils of low structural stability.

Long-term addition of sodium could replace the calcium present in a clay dominated soil. This loss of calcium can cause the clay soil to slump. This is most commonly seen on clay soils affected by salt water flooding. Avoid landspreading salty wastes on soils which are susceptible to salt water flooding.

Salty wastes can have a similar effect in soils to oily wastes. See the Oil and fat trap wastes section in this guide.

Organic matter in soil is an accumulation of partly decayed and partly combined plant and animal residues. Soil microorganisms continually break this material down so the organic matter content in soil is always changing. Adding plant residues and other organic material regularly replenishes the organic matter. You can find nutrient management guidance on organic manures in RB209 Section 2 Organic materials.

Compost is a soil conditioner and a source of plant nutrients. A compost that meets one of the following definitions will typically contain a small, if any, crop available nitrogen. However, it will contain useful amounts of organic nitrogen and total phosphate and potash content.

For any compost spread under standard rules permits the processes and the end products must meet the definitions in the relevant composting permit:

Compost means a solid particulate material that is the result of composting, which has been sanitised and stabilised, and which confers beneficial effects when added to soil, used as a component of growing media or used in another way in conjunction with plants.

Composting means the managed biological decomposition of biodegradable waste, under conditions that are predominantly aerobic and that allow the development of thermophilic temperatures as a result of biologically produced heat and that result in compost.

You must only use compost derived from source segregated biodegradable waste on agricultural land. The exception to this is where the compost has also been partially derived from sludges from urban waste water treatment. You can use compost from non-source segregated biodegradable waste on land that will not be brought back into agricultural use under SR2010 No 5.

The compost quality protocol provides more information on source segregated biodegradable waste.

You must not produce compost or treat any composted materials under the 3 mobile plant landspreading permits.

You must not use compost on agricultural land that was produced with any of these wastes:

The compost must not contain diseased or unsuitable biodegradable waste. See the Manage pests and diseases section in this guide.

If a compost meets the end of waste test you do not need a permit or deployment to spread it to land. It must comply with BSI PAS 100: Specification for composted materials and the Quality protocol: compost.

If you find the compost supplied does not meet the standard required by PAS 100 because for example, it exceeds the thresholds for metals, you may still be able to landspread it. You will need to provide a site specific assessment of the risks from the proposed compost application. BSI PAS 100: Specification for composted materials for more gives information on substances likely to be present in compost and the relevant thresholds.

Base this on the compost input materials and the composting process.

Here are some benefits of adding organic matter to the soil, it can:

The waste producer must remove physical contaminants from the input materials before the compost is spread to land.

Use your waste analysis to measure soil organic matter. Use the per cent soil organic matter multiplied by 1.72.

The organic matter content of a soil is lower in arable soils (typically 2 to 7%) than under grassland (typically 8 to 15%) because of continual oxidation due to cultivation.

An organic soil is still mainly mineral but with 6 to 20% organic matter.

Peaty soils are low density black soils derived from vegetable matter and contain more than 20% organic matter.

Sandy and silty soils typically have lower organic matter content than clay soils.

You can raise the organic matter content of soil, but it is a slow process. It is only achievable with many applications of organic material over time. Incorporating waste into the soil acts as a conditioner so it will help the process.

You may have to justify application rates of highly organic wastes based on the per cent of organic matter content in the soil.

Soil organic matter status ranges from very low (less than 1%) to very high (more than 8%). Use these values as a guide:

Mineral soils will typically have a maximum of between 6 and 10% organic matter, depending on the clay content. Above these percentages a soil is classified as organic mineral soil and at 20% or greater, a peaty soil. See Think Soils on the AHDB website.

For a soil with moderate organic content the typical rate of loss of organic matter is between 0.75 and 1.25t/ha/yr. To counteract this loss the soil will require applications of farmyard manure at between 10 and 25t/ha/yr. Adding organic matter needs to allow for losses through decomposition.

How you calculate the per cent organic matter is based on how the results are given in your waste analysis. For:

For further information British Standard BS 3882: Specification for topsoil is available to buy.

Food production creates wastes likely to contain animal and vegetable oil. For example, chocolate manufacture, dairy and meat processing, rendering and oilseed crushers. It does not include waste mineral oils which are not of animal or vegetable origin.

A secondary treatment process splits out all or part of the oil or fat content from the waste. A trap collects the waste oils any residual matter is skimmed from the surface.

The solid content of the waste varies depending its source and production process. This affects its plant nutrient content.

You must get suitably qualified advice to quantify the effect of fat or oil (vegetable or animal) on the soil. A simple assessment is not sufficient. You must measure the oil or fat content to define the application rate. Fatty or oily wastes must not cause harm.

Consider these risks. The waste may:

You will need to prevent any potentially negative impacts to the soil and growing crop. Consider:

Oily wastes can affect soils in the same way as wastes with a high salt content – see the section Manage salty whey and other high conductivity waste in this guide.

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